Yo u must get involved.
ii It iJ. going to rain.
iii They tend to disagree.
iv She would like to see them.
v I saw them leave.
vi He wants to tell her.
vii He might have told her.
viii I'm going to solve it.
IX They can sardines to preserve them.
X They can preserve sardines.
- In the uses illustrated in the following
examples, the three underlined verbs bear
some semantic and/or syntactic similarity
to the modal auxiliaries, though syntacti
cally they're not similar enough to modals
to be included in the class.
i Yo u are to report fo r duty at 8 a.m.
ii We have to ask what's best fo r the child.
iii They don 't like it.
Take the three verbs in turn and deter
mine which, if any, of the three modal aux
iliary properties described in this chapter
apply to them. Construct examples where
necessary, and explain your reasoning.
- Determine whether the underlined verb
forms in the following examples are
instances of the auxiliary lexemes have,
need and dare or instances of the corre
sponding lexical verbs.
They had better hurry or they 'll miss it.
ii They had their house burgled.
iii They had to call the police.
iv I had the staff do a thorough search.
v I have an idea about that.
vi I doubt whether we needed to see it.
vii We need more time to finish the work.
viii I don 't think you need have any worries.
IX Did anyone dare remind him of his
promise?
x Not one of them dare voice any criticism.
- During a 1954 Senate committee hearing,
US Army attorney Joseph Welch
addressed to US Senator Joseph McCarthy
a famous pair of rhetorical questions:
Have you no shame? and Have you no
shred of decency? What does the syntax of
these interrogative clauses tell you about
American English of that period?
Exercises 61
- Which of the following allow a perfective
interpretation? Consider just the main
clauses, ignoring any subordinate ones
embedded within them.
I think it's a disgrace.
ii I suggest you give up the idea.
iii I now add a sprinkling of pepper.
iv I want to get out of here.
v I do my own shopping.
- We have seen in this chapter that subordi
nate clauses functioning as complement of
before, ifand hope can have a future time
interpretation. For example, if it rains in
We 'll postpone the match ifit rains doesn't
mean "if it is raining now", it means "if
rain falls at some future time". For each of
the following five prepositions and five
verbs, construct an example to show
whether or not it permits a future time
interpretation of a present tense in its
complement.
PREPOSITIONS VERBS
after vi bet
II although vii expect
III because viii realise
iv unless ix regret
v until x wish
(You should avoid examples with a futu
rate interpretation like I know that we leave
fo r Berlin next Tu esday. For these, subordi
nation is irrelevant: the interpretation is the
same as for the main clause We leave fo r
Berlin next Tu esday. Thus futurate examples
don't provide relevant evidence.)
- Classify the following conditional con
structions as open or remote. For the open
ones, give their remote counterparts, and
conversely for the remote ones give their
open counterparts.
It won 't matter if I'm a little late.
ii He could easily get a job if he wanted one.
iii It would be disastrous if they saw the files.
iv lfyou don 't pay up they'll call the
police.
v Yo u can stay here if you 're stuck.
(Note that some open conditionals lack
remote counterparts, and some remote
conditionals lack open counterparts. Here
